Tag Archives: Xavier Nady

The free-agent market is open for business and the Mets’ exclusive window for Jose Reyes has slammed shut without an overture from GM Sandy Alderson, which isn’t good business.

Alderson did not meet with Reyes, which is surprising. Why not take the guy and his wife out to dinner and tell him they would like to keep him. If this is a negotiating ploy, I don’t see it.

Reyes’ camp reportedly is not interested in a home team discount, so the interpretation is this will be a cool parting.

The Mets’ have their reservations on Reyes’ health, which is obvious, and do not want to set the market for their shortstop. I maintain they want to see how much the market will shrink to see if Reyes will come back to them as Johan Santana did several years ago.

The Red Sox, Yankees and Cubs won’t be players, leaving San Francisco, the Angels, Philadelphia if it doesn’t sign Jimmy Rollins, and NL East Rivals Washington and Miami.

If I were Alderson, I’d be more concerned about Miami and the Nationals than I would Philadelphia. With or without Rollins, and even without Ryan Howard at the start of the season, the Phillies are better than the Mets. You can throw a blanket over the Mets, Miami and Washington.

One must ascertain from their stance on Reyes that Alderson doesn’t consider the Mets to be as close to contention as their flirtation with .500 would indicate. If he truly believed the Mets were close, even for a wild-card, it would seem they would be more aggressive in retaining Reyes.

According to a variety of sources, the following is the list of the free-agents on the market (ages in parenthesis):

Both Harry and Ray in a recent thread expressed interest in reading about Omar Minaya’s best deals. There have been more than a few. Some of his bad ones were actually good in the beginning, such as Oliver Perez and Guillermo Mota.

There were also decisions on Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Paul Lo Duca, Alex Cora and signing David Wright and Jose Reyes to long term extensions. The John Maine trade was good. Nobody could have thought he would be injured. Getting Xavier Nady was a good deal.

We must remember, that in all fairness, the Mets came within an inning of the World Series in 2006. Minaya put that team together.

Julio Franco, Moises Alou, Orlando Hernandez all had moments, but the negative reviews came with the subsequent contract extensions.

So, let’s have some fun with this today and talk about Omar Minaya’s Greatest Hits.

This time next week, Mets GM Omar Minaya will be in Indianapolis, working the room to make a deal. The flip side is also true, agents and GMs trying to work Minaya.

And, several have been successful in doing so.

Minaya has had an interesting tenure with the Mets, making some good and bad decisions. I’m interested in your opinion of the worst Minaya deals.

Here are some of the nominations:

MINAYA: What's this year's bombshell announcement?

OLIVER PEREZ: Re-signing lefty Oliver Perez last winter to a three-year, $36-million contract could go down as one of the worst deals in Mets history.

LUIS CASTILLO: Re-signing second baseman Luis Castillo to a four-year, $24-million deal after the 2007 season. Castillo redeemed his miserable 2008 season with a good year in 2009, but signing him meant the Mets couldn’t go after Orlando Hudson or any other viable second baseman. Two more years.

MOISES ALOU: After playing in just 87 games in 2007, the Mets picked up outfielder Moises Alou’s $7.5 million option. Injuries to the 41-year-old Alou limited him to 15 games the following season. Of course, it wasn’t a great idea to have the option in there in the first place.Continue reading →

Ken Griffey, like a lot of people, is looking for work. He’s not ready to retire, and hitting 18 homers last season with 71 RBI in 490 at-bats. Not great, but good enough in a part time role.

While the Mets aren’t in it for Manny Ramirez, and I don’t believe they’ll be able to make a trade with the Yankees to reaquire Xavier Nady. They apparently, and this is too bad, aren’t interested in Adam Dunn.

Why not give Griffey a year? The guy still has his moments, and for one year, he’d be a good fit in left field.